Humans of OSU

“For a long time, having  crush on boys, going to dances or being asked out felt really weird to me. It wasn’t until sophomore year in high school that I came to the conclusion I am gay. I didn’t tell anyone, mostly in fear of my parents who are catholic, especially my dad. I pretended to be straight , telling my mom about the “boy” I had a crush on, and even going to homecoming with him. But it started to wear me down, living a lie is exhausting. It also strained my relationship with my mom. Eventually, I told two of my closest friends, and to my surprise, they were happy for me. I figured they’d be accepting, but it was amazing when they were actually glad to know the true me and honored that I would tell them. Slowly but surely I told more of my friends, and even started talking to a girl I liked. As much as the support of my friends helped, it was still hard to be at home and have nobody know… so I told my older brothers who just laughed and teased me in the typical older brother way that meant everything was going to be alright. A while later, I decided to tell my mom. We were in the car and she drove in silence for about a minute. The first thing she said was ‘don’t tell your dad.’ which was a bit of a blow but I honestly expected worse. Then she said, ‘You’re my daughter and I will love you no matter what, even if I don’t agree.’ This made me want to cry, but in a good way. Even though she wasn’t necessarily happy or accepting of my homosexuality she didn’t try to argue with me, convince me to change or yell at me in any way. Coming from a strict catholic mother, this was the best reaction I could have expected. As for my dad, I don’t think I’ll ever tell him, at least not until I live on my own. He truly despises the LGBT community and my mother and brothers agree he’d probably kick me out. Nonetheless, I’m still his little girl and the support of my friends and family has really helped me to discover who I am.”

-Anna

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